What It’s All About
I have this annoying habit of purging my blog of old entries periodically. Usually because I become extremely lax with the comic & site, and want to remove old stuff that is no longer relevant. I change my mind so often on what I plan to do here that the blog entries just come across very schizophrenic. So while this might appear to be the first blog entry to any new visitor to site, trust me, there are many blog entries that have been lost to the mysteries of time.
So then what’s the deal with the sudden new blog entry? I’ll tell you. I’m finally getting back to work on Grimstone, having (more or less) worked through the issues that were preventing me from moving forward with it. I had been contemplating some sort of reboot, a fresh start, but have ultimately decided against it. I probably should restart, but I just can’t bring myself to wipe the slate clean. It seems like the easy way out, for one. It’s better to persevere and work on taking the comic in the direction I want it to go in. There will be some changes here and there. Some will be small and some not so much. I have one character I want to redesign, so I’m just going to do it and not worry about continuity. I’ll address it with some humor and move on.
I’m basically just trying to steer the focus of the strip to those elements I want to write about and draw. I’ve been too hung up on defining the strip, what exactly it is about. Searching too hard for that “high concept” or “elevator pitch”. What I’ve realized is, that doesn’t matter. It isn’t necessary to define the strip by what the main character’s job is or where he lives or who he lives with. It’s the characters themselves, and their relationships to each other that define the strip. And that is what I want to focus on. I want this comic to be character driven, not concept driven. I want to further explore the relationships of the characters. I won’t be ignoring the elements that have traditionally taken the focus of the strip. In fact, I’ll be addressing a couple I haven’t featured in a while. But I’m not going to let those elements define the strip.
So when describing what the comic is about, I’m not going to say it’s about a skeleton trying to be an actor in monster movies. I’m not going to say it’s about a skeleton living in an old spooky manor with a group of monsters and a goth chick. It’s about the characters and their relationships. It’s about who they are and how they relate to one another. It’s really about life (or afterlife, as the case may be) and the ups and downs we all face. It just happens to be the life of a skeleton, his monster friends, and the goth girl he’s secretly in love with.
Next week is two milestones in my life, and they both occur on the same day. October 9th marks the eighth anniversary of Grimstone as well as my 30th birthday. So to celebrate the two occasions, Grimstone will be resuming its Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule beginning on Monday, October 6th. I am committed to continuing Grimstone on that schedule for the foreseeable future. Beyond those three new comics a week, I make no promises, guarantees or predictions on what else I will be doing with the site. I’m just going to take things one day at a time right now and get back into the groove of things. However, to help try to bring people back to the site, I have signed up for Webcomics Idol. I hope I can also get further constructive feedback that will help me continue to improve the comic. So wish me luck, and don’t forget to check back Monday for new comics.
